UN denies it will halt operations in Lebanon

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by arabnews.com -- NAJIA HOUSSARI -- BEIRUT: The UN in Lebanon has denied it has any intention of stopping its operations or evacuating its personnel from the country. It said that “the support provided by the UN through its activities and operations is continuing and increasing at a faster rate, regardless of the challenges that resulted from the pandemic of the new coronavirus.” Stories circulated on social media at the end of last week about the intention of the UN to withdraw from Lebanon — and that the international organization had told its foreign employees to prepare their passports in preparation for leaving the country. However, the UN in Lebanon described this information as “speculation” in a statement issued on Monday

For the first time since 2011, two World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying supplies were seized last Tuesday while crossing the northern coastal road toward Syrian territory. The young men who intercepted the trucks justified their actions by saying that the Lebanese were hungry and that some people in the Lebanese state were “smuggling food items at the expense of the Lebanese people to the Syrian regime.” The two trucks are still parked at the Port of Tripoli after Lebanese customs teams worked to protect them and return them to the port. Malak Jaafar, the WFP spokesperson in Lebanon, told Arab News: “There is no decision yet to move the organization’s convoy from Lebanon to Syria. The convoy includes 39 trucks loaded with foodstuffs to be sent to the organization’s warehouses in Homs, Syria. There are 37 trucks at Beirut port and two trucks at Tripoli port waiting for security clearance so that we can move the convoy toward Syrian territory and there are contacts with Lebanese officials to secure this protection.”

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Dozens arrested after violent protests in Lebanon

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by thenational.ae -- The Lebanese army on Monday said it arrested dozens of suspects for vandalism after days of protests against a plunging local currency and the worst economic crisis in decades. Hundreds of protesters clashed with security troops at the weekend across the nation after days of rallies against a ruling class considered to be corrupt and impotent in tackling the worsening crisis. "The total number of arrests made by military intelligence between June 11 and 15 in different Lebanese regions is 36 people for acts of vandalism", damaging public and private property and attacking troops, the army said. The army launched raids in the northern port of Tripoli, Lebanon's second city, the official National News Agency reported. For three nights, young men attacked banks and shops and threw rocks at security troops in Tripoli, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. Medical services reported dozens of wounded.

Protesters were angered by a steep drop in the Lebanese pound, the rocketing price of food and what they perceive to be the government's failure to rein in the country's economic collapse. Relative calm returned on Sunday evening, with protesters holding a peaceful rally in the capital Beirut, while dozens marched to a central square in Tripoli. President Michel Aoun on Monday discussed the protests with the country's top security body, including ministers and military officials. "Such acts of vandalism will not be allowed after today," Mr Aoun said after the meeting of the Higher Defence Council. He called for "a wave of arrests, including of those who planned and carried out" such acts, and ordered authorities to increase "pre-emptive" operations to prevent further violence.

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Lebanon PM launches attack against his government’s opponents

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by arabnews.com -- NAJIA HOUSSARI -- BEIRUT: Prime Minister Hassan Diab responded to his government’s political opponents in a tough speech addressing the Lebanese on Saturday night. As the protests continued and clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the city of Tripoli caused injuries, Diab spoke of “a programmed campaign organized by parties known by name and method of thinking that are not deterred from using any method to shatter the image of others.” Diab said that his government “has a high percentage of citizens’ confidence, which has disturbed many of those who bet on its failure, and some have tried to invest without any national deterrent by pumping lies and rumors, to prevent the government from removing the rubble under which the secrets of corruption disappear.” “Know that we have found many keys from that black structure. There is a lot to discover soon with documents and facts, and this structure will fall on those who hide in its corners,” he said. Diab said that “the coup attempt fell and all secret and public meetings and orders of internal and joint operations to stop discovering of corruption failed too.” “They revealed that people’s lives do not concern them and that their aim is to protect themselves.” Diab said that “the state is not bankrupt, there is financial stumbling, but the country is rich in citizens and its resources.”

Addressing the people, he said: “Your rights are reserved with the banks and the Bank of Lebanon and the state is the guarantor.” “There are those who want to go back to before Oct. 17 (the date of protests against the Saad Hariri government) and turn the clock back.” Diab spoke of “political barriers that stand in the way of his government, but change is definitely coming.” He said that “the state oppresses its children and youth and deprives them of their rights.” “When the state weakens, the gangs are strengthened, and when the state retreats, small states appear, and when stability shakes, civil peace collapses, and when accountability stops, corruption prevails,” he said. “The judiciary does not need to be instructed to move. We insist that the judiciary be independent and impartial. The confrontation is difficult, and I call on the Lebanese to be more patient because the battle with corruption is very fierce, because the corrupt will not give up so easily,” the prime minister said.

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The other Hariri: Saad's brother Bahaa makes play for Lebanese prominence

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By Kareem Chehayeb -- middleeasteye.net -- The threat that Lebanon’s protest movement would be co-opted by the country’s political elite has loomed large for Lebanese since demonstrations first broke out in October. Those concerns appeared realised on Saturday, as a controversial protest in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square saw supporters of the Kataeb and Lebanese Forces parties facing off against those of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement. Among the crowd, however, were supporters of a man who wears one of the most prominent names in Lebanon, but who has been noticeably absent from the political scene for years: Bahaa Hariri. As the older brother to Saad Hariri, former prime minister and head of the predominantly Sunni Future Movement, Bahaa has kept out of politics almost entirely since the assassination of his father Rafik Hariri in 2005. Since February, however, the construction business magnate has hinted at an interest in returning to politics through the support of a youth forum led by a former member of his family’s party. His return to visibility raises questions about his relationship with Saad, the younger Hariri’s place as Lebanon’s most prominent Sunni politician, and where the loyalties of Saudi Arabia and the UAE lie.

Expanding influence Founded in April 2018, the Beirut-based Political Economic Social Forum is self-described as a collective of civil society actors, creating a space for Lebanese youth to discuss pressing issues and policy-based solutions. The project was founded by Nabil el-Halabi, a lawyer and former member of the Saudi Arabia-backed Future Movement, who also heads the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, a group that has focused heavily on abuses towards Syrian refugees and Islamists. However, over the past year the forum has expanded, with offices opening in Tripoli, Akkar, Sidon, and other Lebanese governorates. El-Halabi said that this came with the support of Hariri, someone he says he has known for over a decade. “He isolated himself from political talk and public affairs,” El-Halabi told local television station Al-Jadeed. “Now he has a vision for Lebanon… [but] he has no interest in becoming prime minister … I can confirm that.” El-Halabi has since been acting as a de facto spokesperson for Bahaa Hariri on Lebanese media. On 10 May, he announced that Hariri would be launching his own television station within the next two months.

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Lebanon's central bank to inject dollar currency to limit Lebanese pound's slide

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BEIRUT, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The Central Bank of Lebanon will inject U.S. dollars into the licensed exchange market in order to meet needs of ordinary citizens and importers, the National News Agency reported on Friday. The announcement was made by Vice President of the Syndicate of Money Changers in Lebanon Mahmoud Halawi following an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the latest developments in the country and the steep hike in U.S. dollar to the Lebanese pound. The Lebanese pound saw an unprecedented decline on Thursday to the dollar which led to nationwide protests. Halawi said money changers will be disciplined in selling the dollar, and they will commit to selling it at a price of 3,940 pounds. "We appeal to citizens to deal with licensed money changers," Halawi said while urging citizens to stop going to the black market which will lead to the smuggling of the dollar from the country. Lebanon has witnessed in the past few months a shortage in the U.S. dollars caused by economic slowdown and the drop in cash injections from Lebanese abroad, in addition to transfers by big depositors to foreign countries, reducing the central bank's foreign currency reserves and leading to a shortage in dollar for businesses and individuals. Hence, banks put restrictions on cash withdrawals by people and their transfers from Lebanese pounds to U.S. dollars creating panic among depositors. This has caused demand on the U.S. currency to increase, leading to an increase in its price to the Lebanese pound. Enditem

Lebanese Take To The Streets As Currency Hits A New Low - (Pictures)

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BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of Lebanese poured into the streets to protest the tumbling of the national currency to a new low against the dollar Thursday, blocking roads and highways in several places across the small country that had started slowly opening up after months of coronavirus restrictions. In Beirut and other cities, protesters burned tires and wood and chanted against government officials to protest the economic crisis while waving the Lebanese flags. Shortly after midnight, growing numbers of protesters advanced in central Beirut pelting police and soldiers with rocks, while drawing volleys of tear gas. Some protesters threw stones at offices of private banks in an expression of anger at their perceived role in deepening their economic malaise.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab cancelled his scheduled meetings for Friday and called for an emergency session to discuss the financial crisis. The governor of the central bank urged foreign exchange bureaus to stick to the rate he had ordered. Despite efforts to control the currency depreciation in recent weeks, the Lebanese pound tumbled to more than 6,000 to the dollar on Thursday, down from 4,000 on the black market in recent days. The pound had maintained a fixed rate of 1,500 to the dollar for nearly 30 years. The crash appeared to reflect the growing shortage of foreign currency on the market amid the crisis . It also signaled panic over new U.S. sanctions that will affect neighboring Syria in the coming days as well as lack of trust in the government’s management of the crisis. The heavily indebted Lebanese government has been in talks for weeks with the International Monetary Fund after it asked for a financial rescue plan but there are no signs of an imminent deal.

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